Well, that was a lie. He honestly was worried about Devin. Sure, he and Devin had gotten into a fight, but that hadn't ever stopped the younger boy from showing up at Keegan's house before.

'Well,' Keegan thought sarcastically, looking up and down the road, unsure which way to go, 'this is going to be fun.'

He'd never been to Devin's house before. He didn't even know where the damn kid lived.

He sighed, starting the way he'd seen Devin disappear to the last time he'd left Keegan's house. It didn't take long, maybe about ten minutes, before he came across a small bundled heap of worn out, ripped up, secondhand clothes, redhair, black finger nails, and smeared make up hiding in the bushes.

Devin was curled up, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, his makeup smeared from crying. At second glance, Keegan realized there were blood stains on the young teen's clothes, too.

He gasped softly, never having seen his friend like that before. Slowly, he walked over to Devin and crouched down next to him. The small boy didn't notice.

"Devin," Keegan asked softly, "are you okay?"

Devin hiccuped, looking up at him in surprise. His eyes were redrimmed from crying, and it looked as if he hadn't slept in days. "K-Keegan! What are you doing h-here?"

"I was...wondering what happened to you. Are you okay?"

"F-Fine. Never been better."

Keegan frowned at him, moving to wrap an arm around him lightly. Devin flinched at the contact, carefully hiding a whimper. Keegan raised an eyebrow.

"Fine, huh? You look pretty fucked up for someone who's never been better."

Devin made a face but didn't comment, and he quickly cuddled close to Keegan's side. It was around this time that Keegan realized Devin probably wasn't fully conscious.

'Fuck, kid, what happened to you?'

He sighed, picking Devin up without the redhead's permission.

"I'm gonna take you back to my house now. Is that okay, bee?" He asked, using Bee as a pet name without really thinking about it. He smiled after he said it though.

Devin just nodded, clinging loosely to Keegan with what little strength he had left-though he was pretty weak most of the time anyway, so it wasn't a lot.

It wasn't long before Keegan was at his house again. He had to shift Devin to open the door, but he still carried him inside easily.

Matthew wasn't too pleased to see Keegan carrying Devin in though.

"Why's he here?" Matthew asked, getting up off the couch.

"Because he's my friend."

"It doesn't seem like it. You know he's fuckin' obsessed with you."

"And you know I don't cheat on my boyfriends. If that's what you're thinking, you can leave, Matthew. I help my friends when they need me, even if they do like me. He's my friend, he needed me. That's all there is to it."

Matthew stared at them for another moment for walking over to Keegan. He pulled the younger teen to him before Keegan could object and kissed him forcefully. Then Matthew slapped him.

"Whatever, bitch. We're over. Have fun with your new toy." Then he walked out.

Keegan stood there, frozen for a few minutes. He held Devin closer to him and started to go upstairs, to put him in his room so that he could rest. Devin looked up at him, and Keegan guessed he was crying or something, because Devin cuddled closer and mumbled something about Matthew being an undeserving jackass.

Keegan laid Devin down in his bed gently, then sat next to him, petting him and watching the young red haired boy, his expression showing how concerned he was with a mix of pain from just getting dumped.

Devin smiled weakly at him. "I'm fine, Keegan. I told you, I'm not going to just up and leave you."

"Are you sure? Do you anything? I could make something for you to eat, or get you a drink, or a blanket, or-"

"Can I have some water?"

Keegan smiled slightly, nodding and quickly jumping up to go get it.

He heard Devin chuckling behind him as he left the room.

Keegan sighed, getting a glass down from the cabinet and filling it with water as he wiped his eyes, his hand tenderly touching his cheek where Metthew had slapped him.

"Damn..." He heard a voice behind him and he almost jumped, looking back at Devin.

"What's wrong?"

Devin looked up at Keegan then back down again and shook his head. "Nothing...will you...will you stay with me, Keegan?"

Keegan nodded and handed him the glass of water, helping Devin to the table and sitting next to him.

"Devin...what happened?"

Devin downed the water quickly, and afterwards sat there for a few minutes before looking at Keegan again."You can't tell anyone..."

Keegan hesitated before nodding again, getting up to get Devin more water, then sitting next to him again, propping his arm on the table to hold his head with.

"Did your parents do it?"

Devin nodded slowly, taking the glass from him with a shaky hand.Keegan was silent for a moment, then asked quietly, "why didn't you tell me before?"

"I didn't want you to treat me different..."

"How long have they been doing it?"

Devin didn't answer.

Keegan looked up at him, watching the young redhead. Devin traced a finger around the rim of the glass.

"Devin...?"

"I don't know," he finally admitted quietly, Keegan barely having heard him. "It's been like this for as long as I can remember."

"Stay with me." Keegan finally said. Devin looked up in surprised.

"What?"

"Come live with me. I don't want you to keep getting hurt..."

'What am I saying? Mom...will totally agree to this. If she doesn't, then I'll sneak him into my room every night. I'm not going to let anything else happen to him.'

Devin opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it. He repeated the action a few times before smiling. "You should ask your mom first..."

"She won't mind. Please, Devin?"

Devin hesitated before giving in, smiling faintly as he took another drink.

"I'm not legally allowed to move out yet..." he frowned, biting his lip, then added as an afterthought, "they won't notice anyway though."

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